This is a guest post from Brynn at My Sweet Potato Life. She has many wonderful recipes, so do check her out!

This vegan & paleo dish has all the quintessential flavors of pad thai: lime, coconut aminos, sesame oil, peanut butter, et cetera. Let’s be honest, sometimes all you want to do is faceplant into a BIG bowl of noodles, am I right? I used my handy-dandy spiralizer (which, by the way, was a birthday present that I actually asked for #foodie) to make awesome sweet potato noodles! Sweet potatoes are the BEST way to make an epic recipe even more epic! As you can tell by my blog name, I’m a bit obsessed with sweet potatoes.

Note: I used homemade peanut butter in this recipe because I tolerate peanuts, but you can use sunflower seed butter to make it “perfect paleo!”

Directions

1. Heat the sesame oil and olive/coconut oil in a large nonstick pan over medium heat.
2. Add sweet potato, onion, and red bell pepper. Cover and cook until soft (10 to 15 minutes), stirring every so often.
3. While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the sauce by mixing all ingredients together until smooth.
4. Add the sauce to the vegetables and season to taste with salt. Stir until combined.
5. Serve noodles over a bed of cabbage with desired toppings.

Wendy is an herbalist and publisher who homesteads in Southern Georgia. She teaches herbs, plant medicine methods, and how to make herbal remedies for your family.

Let’s get to the recipe

There are moments in your life when clarity of just how Alive you are comes crashing into your kitchen. Ok, well, it does for me anyway. One thing I love about living in the south is that I can grow my favorite basils for so much longer than I could in the Pac NW. There just isn’t enough sun up there.

I’ve made a TON of pesto, in many forms, many ingredients, and this is my favorite. I am a Pesto Junkie. To save yourself from becoming a Pesto Junkie, just pass this recipe over. I wouldn’t want to be a bad influence. (Evil Grin)

In your food processor throw in:

1 and 1/4 cups of basil (pack in there, stems and all)

1/3 cup of raw nuts of your choice (for the one pictured, I used a combo of cashews and walnuts)

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 Tablespoons of water (sometimes I’ll use coconut water or orange juice)

Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan on medium high until the contents begin to simmer. Add a few tablespoon of water if the mixture begins to get dry as it cooks.

Cook for about 15 minutes or until the peaches are soft. Take off heat and let cool for about ten minutes. After the ten minutes are up, taste for sweetness. If you would like, you can add a sprinkle of stevia/sweetener of choice to balance out the spicy, tart taste.

The mixture is ready to be blended. A immersion blender is the best for this, but if you have a conventional blender or a Ninja style blender that would be fine as well.

Warning, When using a conventional blender make sure:

● The mixture has cooled some
● You crack the lid
● You use a towel to cover the lid to let steam escape

The heat causes pressure to develop and it could explode. Safety first, last and always.

After you blend the sauce, taste again for sweetness, and you are done. The sauce can store in the fridge for a few days.

Although you do not need a recipe for cooking basic pork chops or peppers, here is what I did and some other alternatives.

Grilled Pork Chops with Peppers

Ingredients

● Bone-in Pork Chops, not thin sliced, not thick cut, but the standard grocery store cut
● Salt and Pepper to taste
● A combination of your favorite bell pepper, red, yellow, and orange work best on the grill

Prep the pork chop with simple salt and pepper. The sauce will be flavor enough by itself. The peppers are sliced into bite size pieces that would not fall through the grill grates.

Grill the pork chop on a 350 degrees flame over direct heat. Cook on each side for ten minutes. Take the chops off the grill, tent with parchment or cover with a tea towel to rest. Next, grill the pepper pieces, turning frequently to prevent burning (charring is good, but set on fire is bad). Remove pepper pieces, and serve.

If you can not grill, another option is to prepare on the stove top. You could pan sear the chops, and then saute the peppers. In the oven, you could bake/broil the chops and peppers at the same time.

Voila’, dinner is served. Pour a little sauce on top or serve on the side, and you have taken boring supermarket pork chops and leftover peaches and elevated to another level.

But wait there is more. I promised you cook once, eat twice. You can put the same meal on top of a bed of spinach the next day.

I hope you try this recipe, and it adds a little pizzazz to your weekday round-up.

I would also love if you stopped by and checked out my site, The Healthcare Maquis. I believe that freedom begins with health and wellness. I would love to join you on your journey to liberation.